It is well known to provide vehicle driving assistance, in particular to avoid collisions but also to assist a driver in parking or other manoeuvres. ABS (Anti-lock Brake System) has been in use for several years and assists in driver-initiated braking of a vehicle. ABS avoids skidding but otherwise does not affect the course of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,016,783 discloses a method and a system for collision avoidance using automated braking and steering. In this known system, distance thresholds are used to take steering control decisions. Depending on the relative distance of an obstacle, the system may brake and steer around an obstacle. On the basis of the thresholds and the measured relative distances the known system decides which of a set of essentially predetermined actions is taken, for example changing lanes. The flexibility of this known system is therefore limited. In addition, the known system seeks to avoid collisions but fails to minimise the effects of an unavoidable collision. Furthermore, the known system ignores any discomfort that may be experienced by the driver during braking and/or steering.